Epilogue
by paintthesilence
Summary: This was going to be part of an epilogue to another fic, but ended up cut, and works alright as a oneshot. AU. [RikuSora].


**AN: **This was going to be attached to the end of something, but after a few plot tweaks, it didn't fit particularly well anymore. Figured I'd switch a couple details around and post it up here as a oneshot to let you guys know I'm still around and working on stuff. I promise I haven't forgotten Dig! XD  
Anyways, nothing special, but I hope you guys like this. :)

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"Listen!" 

"Mmm…"

"Riku, listen! There's thunder."

Sora sat up in bed, staring out the window at the soaked world outside. He heard Riku shift a bit to his left.

"There's rain," Sora said, scooting closer to the open window. He listened to the rain fall for a moment.

"The plants will be delighted," he added, studying the watermelons he'd planted outside.

"_My watermelons will flourish!_" he thought with conviction, and he turned to see if Riku was paying attention.

Past the lump of unresponsive, sleeping Riku, Sora noted with vague disinterest the "2:26" shining out from the alarm clock: a bluish glow in the otherwise dark bedroom. A haze of moisture had floated in through the window, and Sora sniffed a little, letting the wet heat soak into his bare skin.

The next roll of thunder shook the apartment. Sora reached instinctively for Riku, his hand moving practically of its own accord toward the other's arm, where it rested lightly, protectively, until the thunder stopped. The gesture was hardly necessary. Even a sleeping Riku seemed strong and impassive, and it wasn't like the thunder offered any threat anyway.

The rain picked up after that, and Sora removed his pajama-clad legs from beneath the sheets, pulling his knees up closer to his chest and positioning himself to look outside again.

He thought of rain then. Playing in the rain. Dancing in the rain. Walking in the rain.

Fighting in the rain. He could remember the night he and Riku had broken it off; a summer storm much like this one playing as background noise to their shouting. They'd decided that, at college, maybe it would be better if they saw other people. Broadened their horizons. Experimented. They'd decided together, but neither of them had really wanted it, and they'd each gone back and forth on it more times than they could count. Finally, each infuriated by the indecisiveness of the other, they called it off "for real" with a screaming match in Riku's kitchen.

_Maybe this is just a mistake, alright? This whole thing was stupid! This-this whole "staying friends" __**bullshit**__, it's not working!_

_Well, maybe if you'd just stick to one decision instead of-_

_Oh, maybe if __**I'd**__ stick to a decision? Oh, __**sure**__, Sora, blame this shit on me, why don't you? _

_What, you want to blame it on __**me**__? It was your fucking idea in the first place!_

_You know what? You're right! You're right, it's a stupid fucking idea, and I don't even know why I thought it would work! Maybe with someone else, but not with you! No, sir, Sora's the king of indecision! Jesus Christ, I should have known! This whole goddamn thing is just-just completely fucked up!_

They'd argued for a long time. After a few minutes, Kairi had padded by in the hall and gently closed the kitchen door in an attempt to keep their shouting contained, or maybe just to give them a little more privacy.

Sora hadn't wanted to let go, but eventually his anger and his hurt convinced him otherwise, and he'd stormed out of the kitchen with an explosive: "Good! Fine! I'm glad! I don't even know why I ever… ever…" that had faded in strength until he was about halfway home, the windshield wipers on full speed as he pulled up at a red light. Lost in thought, he hadn't noticed the light turn green, and when the driver behind him leaned on the horn, he burst into tears.

"I'm going! I'm fucking going, alright?! I'm sorry," he'd sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

After that, Sora didn't see Riku again for a long time. He attended a large university in another city about 5 hours from home, and he had a good enough time of it. He remembered though, that on his first night there, he'd sat and wondered about Riku. The other boy had been torn between two small, private universities: one in the same city that Sora would be in, and one on the opposite side of the country. Sora didn't care to think about it for too long, though, and he soon launched himself into his classes and his social life at full force.

Riku gave a quiet sigh from his side of the bed, and Sora turned his face away from the window for a moment to see if he'd woken up. No luck – Riku's eyes remained closed. Sora was content to simply watch him for a little while, observing and appreciating every slim curve of muscle; soft silver hair tied back for the night; flat, wide wrists and large, strong hands.

Another low rumble descended from the sky, and Sora's attention turned back to the rain, and every memory of rain he could dig up.

Of course, he thought of Sephiroth then. Throughout his freshman and sophomore years of college, he'd dated all kinds of guys – every guy he could find. He was saucy and cute and a bit of a slut, and he tended to attract guys who wanted just that, and nothing more. Most of them ended up losing interest upon unearthing an actual personality in Sora; someone who was actually content to rent a movie and cuddle on a Saturday night, or worse – read. He fell into a somewhat predictable cycle for a while. Go to a party, get a bit drunk, dance, find a guy, act a bit slutty, have sex, exchange numbers, call up guy to hang out on Friday night, guy comes over expecting to fuck, is disappointed by actual conversation or exhibition of intelligence by Sora, guy loses interest and explains that he's sorry, but he's more of a partier, lather, rinse, repeat.

After a protracted period of the seemingly endless, emotionally empty cycle, Sora managed to find a guy with enough ostensible similarities to Riku to temporarily convince himself he was happy. Sephiroth seemed to have it all – irritability, intelligence, good looks, silver hair, and a sort of eccentricity that, paired with his generally commanding nature, led Sora to do any number of things he would never have done otherwise. One of Sephiroth's many fascinations was public sex. He took Sora in elevators, parks, restaurant bathrooms, empty classrooms, alleys, and once, with Sora sufficiently wasted, on the couch at a party, with others watching.

The one time that stood out though, at least to Sora, remained the time that Sephiroth had pulled him from his bed at night, as usual, only to drag him up the stairs and out onto the roof of the building into the pouring rain. The collision of sensations had been intoxicating for Sora: the scraping of the concrete roof against his back, the pounding rain crashing onto his face, and Sephiroth's hands, his tongue, his cock – everything had felt so right, so perfect, so… _wet._

"I love you," Sora had gasped, the words escaping his mouth as he came. "I love you."

Sephiroth had gone silent upon finishing, and as he stood up, leaving Sora naked and freezing and covered in cum, he fixed a harsh glare on the younger boy.

"I love you," Sora had repeated, still catching his breath as he stared up at the man towering over him.

Sephiroth hadn't taken well to love. After that night, it quickly became clear to Sora that whatever they'd had was over. Sephiroth stopped returning his calls, and he never seemed to be in when Sora went by his place. For all the similarities between him and Riku, what Sephiroth lacked was Riku's fiercely protective, aggressively affectionate side. Where love strengthened Riku, it bored Sephiroth.

Sora had finally tracked Sephiroth down at a party, where he found him already attached to another guy. Unable to understand the quiet rejection he'd faced, he turned it into a loud one. The fight he started with Sephiroth was almost on par with the one he'd had with Riku, save for two things: Sephiroth was not nearly as patient as Riku, nor was he particularly attached to Sora. He'd lost his patience after only a few minutes, physically pushing Sora away from him with a harsh slap in the face and a rough shove out the door. Emotionally lost and painfully aware of his failure, Sora had stumbled to the closest bar he could find, where he'd proceeded to drink as much as he could buy until the bar eventually closed. He wandered, unbalanced, through the city for a while, and when he finally collapsed around 4:30 in the morning, it was in a large park in the center of a small, private university's campus in a wealthy part of town.

_"Sora?"_

The voice had been so familiar, and Sora had struggled to crack his eyes open, immediately aware of his dew-soaked clothes and pounding headache. His head had felt as if it weighed a ton, and when he ultimately managed to lift it up, he caught sight of Riku's face shortly before vomiting onto the grass in front of him.

"Ugh, come on, if you're going to throw up, at least do it in the gutter," Riku had said, and he'd sprung into action, helping Sora over to the curb and sitting beside him until he was done.

Sora had looked up then, examining Riku's clothes, which suggested he'd been out for a morning run.

"Riku," was all he managed to croak out before throwing up again, the last of the contents of his stomach now displayed artistically on the street.

After a minute or so of silence, Riku stood up, pulling Sora with him. "Come on," he said briskly, and he began to drag Sora along the sidewalk with him.

The next thing that Sora could remember was waking up surrounded by dry, soft, warmth, and a familiar scent that left him feeling comforted and safe. Wrapped in Riku's blankets, head resting on Riku's pillow, he felt like he was home for the first time he could remember in over three years.

"Oy, Riku! I think the kid woke up!"

Sora blinked a few times as the piercing shout reached his ears, and he looked through the crusty residue that had formed in his eyes at what appeared to be a roommate, who gave him a nod in response.

"Riku's next door," he said, looking up from his computer. "He needed to get some work done. Said you were distracting him."

"Euuhhhmmhhh," Sora replied, rubbing at his eyes to remove the residue.

Moments later, Riku had appeared in the doorway, and he'd given Sora a towel and a toothbrush and sent him off to get cleaned up.

Sora could still remember the-

"Mm… why are you awake?"

Yanked out of his memories by the mumbled question, Sora blinked and turned to Riku, who appeared to have woken up and was staring up at him from his pillow.

"There's rain," Sora said lamely, gesturing to the window. "I was listening."

Riku rolled over laboriously to glance at the clock. "Don't you have to be in at work at 8?"

Sora nodded. "Yea, I know, I know. It's just nice to listen to. I was just… thinking."

"…about?"

Sora sighed.

"You," he said finally, scooting back under the covers. He waited for Riku to get comfortable on his back, then moved closer to rest his head on Riku's shoulder.

"I love you," he said quietly, closing his eyes. He could feel Riku's lips pressing gently against his forehead, Riku's arm coming around his back to hold him closer, and then he could hear Riku's voice, a drowsy murmur, "I love you too."

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**AN: **Thanks for reading, and please don't hesitate to leave a review and let me know what you thought. :) 


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